Monday, April 19, 2010

Teenager elected to South Robertson Neighborhood Council

This kind of writing drives me nuts! Rachel Lester seems like an interesting girl, but what does the writer take a whole paragraph of space to point out? That she doesn't have a driver's license. Were this kid elected to a neighborhood council in any city in the country, that same line about hitching a ride with her mom to the council meetings would be right there in the first few inches of the story. Yeah, it's cute, but not very original. Her age and lack of a driver's license are probably the least interesting things about her.

I would have appreciated less name-dropping about her mom and dad, and more on the girl herself.

I think it's cool that she did this, and so does the LA Times, apparently, but why is it cool?

I've been thinking about getting more involved in my neighborhood lately, too, but not sure how I want to go about it. I'm pretty sure the Times isn't going to write about it, but maybe I will. I'm thinking about looking into the Friends of the Library group at the County library near my house, but I haven't contacted them yet. I'd like to know more people in Long Beach. Sometimes I feel a little isolated.